UBC video shows that more than three-quarters of world's refugees are not fleeing Syrian civil war

by Charlie Smith on June 15th, 2016 at 10:58 AM

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The Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC is at the forefront of researching some of the most important issues in the developing world.

It recently launched a new video series, Seeking Refuge, designed to educate the public about the international refugee crisis.

The first of these short films features UBC geography professor Daniel Hiebert, who points out that 80 percent of the world's refugees are not from Syria.

"Germany received well over a million asylum claimants last year, but less than half of them were from Syria," Hiebert says.

Less than half of all asylum claimants in Germany last year were from Syria.

As the video above shows, those escaping Eritrea and other African countries have not received nearly as much attention as people fleeing Syria.

The film notes that one in every 50 Eritreans has claimed asylum in Europe since 2012. That's double the ratio of Syrians fleeing their country for Europe.

More than 12,000 people have died or gone missing trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea since 2010, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees site.